A bit of advice over Christmas

Hi Jade

You have come to the right place the advise and support on this site is absolutely amazing and if nothing else you realise there are many of us out there leading happy normal lives.  I live with the ls it dosnt dictate how i live.  I havent used e45 or sudocream i use dermovate if i get a flare up and when its controlled i just use it once a week.  If i am cracked or sore i use coconut oil.  I do take supplements and eat well to keep my immunity strong.

I too was told i had herpes but tests revealed i hadnt, so i sympathise with how you feel but believe your doctors and live your life.

Merry christmas. 

 

Hi Jade

Are you taking any supplements. I take Zinc because it boosts the immune system and aids healing of the skin.plus Vit C for the same thing. I also take Probiotics which boosts the good bacteria in the Gut which in turn boost the immune system and aids healing.  We all know that stress and anxiety causes flare ups. With regards to this I find that as you get older your can deal with stress in a different way. Yoga also helps and meditation.

Hi Jade

when you get your supplements please make sure they are good quality supplements. I also take fish oil as this helps plus the Herbalist at my Supplement Shop also mixed me a Vit E cream with Chickeweed and essential oils to apply to the area 3 times a day.Chick weed helps with healing. With regard to stress you learn to let thingsride over you. Life is to short. God Bless and have a good Christmas.

 

Hi Jade I use sudacrem to ease soreness during flare ups. I was diagnosed with LS

4 years ago. As time goes on i have come to terms with this horrible condition as best i can. Dermovate has to be used on a regular basis. It soon flares up without cream.  Stress is a trigger or when your run down. Flares up sometimes anyway prolonged sitting does not help i dread long journeys by coach.  I also use Vegefem pesseries low hormonal dose improves things.  I am nearly 65 but find  this condition hard.  Its a hard thing to talk about. This site is alife line. merry Christmas. 

Hi Jade, sorry that you are feeling down, like the other advice I would say try not to let it rule your life. I would say that heavy drinking will not help your general wellbeing.

I have been diagnosed with herpes, this is a separate thing from LS, it is herpes simplex, the same as you get on your face, not genital herpes. I am relieved because it means that the LS is not as widespread as I thought and I can deal with these sores in a different way, ie Zovirax.

I use Emu Oil to soothe along with Dermovate to try and heal.

Try and have a nice Christmas and enjoy being Young.

Hi Jade , everyone as already given you lots of good advice l would just like to add , your mum is a GP, you say you dont want to worry her over christmas , but firstly she is your mum and speaking as a mum l would be truly upset to think my daughter had been in distress and l could have helped her , l am sure your mum would feel the same way , have a chat with her , do it l am sure you will not regret it. Congratulations on good exam results, l know from experience life at uni can get a bit wild and its not easy going against the flow with the drinking , one trick is to order a soft drink thats the colour of an alcoholic drink . Try to chill out over the holidays . Happy christmas xxx  

Hi Jade,

There's no getting around the fact that sugar is a very inflammatory substance and alcohol (especially hard liquor mixed with sweet soda) is bad, especially to excess. Getting drunk is a stressor, as bad as the pressure from work or school. My sister is an alcoholic in a high pressure career – she has terrible psoriasis, but can't seem to see the connection. She insists she doesn't have LS, but she had surgery for squamous cell canver of her vulva many years ago. 60% of cases of that kind of cancer are in LS patients.

You already sound pretty wise for your age. If you want to have kids you need to stop having these bad flares. They result in scarring that can impair sex. That said, I'm 63, when I was your age and had LS (mine is the slow kind – yours may be more aggressive) sex was painful, but I got drunk at parties and drank a lot daily and didn't make the connection. I had two kids in my thirties.

I quit drinking at age fifty even though I was in a job where we entertained hard-drinking clients. I used to order cranberry and soda water nso it wasn't obvious to everyone that I was abstaining. At the time I was a devoted practicing Buddhist. When I also told them that, they respected me for my seriousness.

These days I drink two small glasses of red wine with dinner daily and it doesn't seem to make my LS flare. Maybe it would be even better if I totally abstained, but once I've had to give up sex, what do I have to lose? Of course, I'm following all the other good things. I just started doing yoga. I think that's going to be even better for my 'wellness' than monthly massage therapy, which was sort of an after-the-fact fix.

As a mother I would definitely not want you to be concealing your pain. I'm sure you know she'd tell you to stop the heavy drinking. My kids did 'protect' me from some awful things I've now heard about a decade later.

I hope now that exams are over you can enjoy your holiday.

Hi! I had to respond. If you've been tested and diagnosed with LS it is not herpes. I started my journey by going to my normal doc, who tested me for everything, including herpes. I then went to other doctors desperate for help. Finally an OB diagnosed me visually with LS. He did not give me much direction other than to use the steroid cream. I went back a week and a half later and that doctor started questioning if I had i had herpes because my LS is painful and it's not supposed to be. My husband and I have been married for 8yrs and I inow him, so there is really no way it could have been introduced unless it was something we had prior to getting married and never knowing. Anyway, none of my doctors said my spots looked like herpes they were just so desperate as my OB has now told me there is nothing else they can do for me as they DONT KNOW and has passed me off to dermatology. I started questioning too if it was just herpes but multiple tests said no, and the doctors said it doesn look like it. I also have the white discoloration associated with LS though. I'll find out 100% in Jan as that's when dermatology wants to do a biopsy. Hang in there!

Lots of advise given already.  Just that I wish to add that any stress, lowering of immunity, will open up the possibility of a flare up.  A number of days without sufficient sleep, especially while studying, is putting you soon at risk.  But you knew that already.

Advise comes cheap, no one really seems to want it, however, try to rest up over this holiday time.  Your best defense.  Get as much sleep as you can.  Try to eat healthy in spite of all the extra's.  Flare ups are no fun!  Taste is only a few inches long, (the length of your tongue)

It won't be easy in this culture that seems to centre itself around food stuffs.  Perhaps we have to change the way we think about what goes with 'celebrating' and 'holidaying'.    

Oh and in the US we have a cream called Vagisil. I use that, it numbs the area a bit and takes away itching. It's very short term but helps 

Hey, you've probably heard it all by now but I am the same age as you, and these are my findings - for any cuts or raw areas, vaseline helps immenseley to soothe this. Especially when using tissue to wipe down there, it's good to get a dollop of it on the tissue and apply it when you're done. My GP has told me that at the front you can use the steroid also, because you're treating the same condition. Again if you don't want to, vaseline or aqueous cream - it's very soothing, no side effects and created a barrier to keep skin soft and prevent fusion. Hope that helps, have a lovely Christmas and good luck with your studies! (exam time is the worst I know!) xx

I would definitely speak with your mum, this isnt something to keep to yourself, besides I think she would feel awfully sad if she thought you couldnt chat with her, especially being a doctor.

Hope you feel better soon.